BYU Studies Quarterly BYU Studies Quarterly

Volume 32 Issue 4 Article 4

10-1-1992

Temple Worship and a Possible Reference to a Prayer Circle in Temple Worship and a Possible Reference to a Prayer Circle in

Psalm 24 Psalm 24

Donald W. Parry

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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Parry, Donald W. (1992) "Temple Worship and a Possible Reference to a Prayer Circle in Psalm 24," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 32 : Iss. 4 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol32/iss4/4

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templelnempletempie worship and apossible reference to a prayer

circle in psalm 24

donald W parry

several scholars have identified psalm 24 as a temple liturgicalhymn 1 sigmund mowinckel for example believes that psalm 24contains legessacraelegessaleges sacraemacraecruecrae or laws ofthe sanctuary those special rulesand special demands as to the qualifications of those to be admittedinto the temple 2 speaking specifically of psalm 24 hans joachimkraus states that we must reckon with the presence in the psalmsofconcepts connected with the sanctuary of the ark 115113 additionallyscholars have considered how gods presence in the temple isdemonstrated in psalm 24 leopold sabourin has discussed psalm 24and gods theophany in the sanctuary 2141144 and kraus avers that theliturgy of psalm 24 celebrates yahweh sebaothsabaothSebaoth the god of israelwho is entering the sanctuary he is accompanied and sur-rounded by the righteous vv 3 5 by the true israel vy 6 1155

internal evidence clearly connects the psalm to the rites of theancientjerusalemancient jerusalem temple for instance the hymn contains a number oftechnical terms and expressions which are associated with the israelitetemple and temple worship such as mountain of yahweh bolyplacebolyholy placeascend rise up innocentinnocentpurepure heart liftlyt up seeking godsfacegodsraceface gatesentrances king glory and eternity the psalm also functions as a typeof self administered temple recommend interview in the formfonn of adescription oftheodtheofthe ideal temple visitor vy 4 and the creation scene playsa prominent role in the opening verses 1 2

although scholars have noted several temple connections inpsalm 24 they have overlooked a possible reference to a prayercircle english translators have rendered psalm 246 as follows

donald W parry is assistant professor of hebrew in the department of asian andnear eastern languages brigham young university

byustudiesBYU studies 32 no 4 1992

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this is the generation of them that seek himthat seek thy face 0 jacob king james version

such is the generation of those who seek himwho seek your face 0 god of jacob new international version

such are the people who seek himwho seek your presence god ofjacob jerusalem bible

the one of eternity seek0 you who search for the presence ofofjacobjacob anchor bible

this is the generation of them that seek himof them that seek the face of the god ofofjacobjacob douay version

such is the fortune of those who seek himwho seek the face of the god ofjacob new english bible

such is the people that seek himthat seeks your presence god ofofjacobjacob newjerusalemnew jerusalem bible

such is the company of those who seek himwho seek the face of the god ofofjacobjacob new revised standard version

based on further study of the hebrew text I1 propose thefollowing translation of verse 6

this is the circle of them that inquire of himthat seek the face of the god of jacob

I1 offer the following translation of psalm 24 to place verse 6 inthe full context of this temple hymn

1 A psalm of davidthe earth and its fullness belongs to yahwehthe world and they that dwell in it

2 because he has established it upon the seasand upon the rivers he founded it

3 who will ascend into the mountain6 of yahwehand who will rise up in his holy place

4 he whose palms are innocentand whose heart is purewho has not lifted his soul8soulsouisoula to falsehoodand has not swomsworn what is false

5 he will lift up9upa a blessing from yahwehand righteousness from the god of his salvation

6 this is the circle of them that inquire of himthat seek the face of the god of jacob selah

7 lift upup10 your heads 0 gatesand be lifted up 0 entrances of eternityso that the king of glory will come in

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temple worship and psalm 24 59

8 who is this king of gloryyahweh strong and mighty 12

yahweh mighty of battle9 lift up your heads 0 gates

and be lifted up 0 entrances of eternityso that the king of glory will come in

10 who is this the king of gloryyahweh of armieshe is the king of glory selah

my translation of verse 6 is based particularly on the followingobservations

when the text of the hebrew bible was originally written onlyconsonants were used no vowels 13 indeed a statement attributed tonatronaiNatronai II11 ben hilaihilaa gaon of sura AD 85358853 58 states that the vowelswere introduced by the sages as an aid for reading 14 approximatelytwo centuries later hai gaon d AD 1037 wrote that a scroll oftheodtheofthe lawthe pentateuch or five books of moses provided with punctuation

cannot be employed for public reading and the reason is that moseswrote the law for israel without any vowel point s 111515

because the vowels were introduced by the masoretesMasoretes oftiberiusath9th century AD they may or may not reflect the intent of the originalbiblical authors as has long been recognized the addition oftheodtheofthe vowelsis sometimes interpretative 1611 byway ofcomparison the dead sea scrollversions of the old testament ad2d century BC to 1istst centuryAD are anearlier form of the text and do not have vowels thus it is customary fora translator to study the hebrew bible both with and without thevowels with the vowels to view the opinion of the masoretesMasoretes andwithout the vowels to explore otherpossibleotherpossible understandings oftheodtheofthe text

in psalm 246 the hebrew word dordof can be rendered genera-tion as many english translators do accepting the vowel pointingof the masoretesMaso retes simply by changing the hebrew vowel from abolamb6lambalam to a shaffiksharuksharfik an acceptable practice when translating thehebrew bible the word dordof generation now reads dur circlesuch a rendition is supported by hebrew lexical materials 17 and inthe light of the temple setting of this psalm the term circle fits thatcontext well and may have reference to a religious prayer circle 18

at the same time I1 prefer the englishverbenglish verb inquire rather thanseek as in the king james version the word inquire more accu-rately reflects the prayer setting of the hymn the same word isfrequently used in the hebrew scriptures with regard to an individualor group praying to god gen 2522 ex 1815 1 sam 99 1 kgsggs228 2 kgsggs 88 1 chr 1513 jer 212

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in several renditions of verse 6 the pronoun thy or yourprecedesprecedesfaceface making the reading shyfacethyfacethy face oryourfaceoryourface this readingis probably corrupt for the pronoun thy ororyouryour does not agree withthe third person singular pronoun him as in inquire ofhim in thesame verse

the syriac old testament and the septuagint supply theword godhebrew elohim616dimbim in the verse between the wordswordsjacobjacob andandraceandfaceface for

one reason or another the hebrew bible has omitted this term from theverse without this emendation the textmakes little sense for the entirecontext revolves around the goal of the worshipperworshipper to seek the faceof god 20 As noted in the translations listed above most translatorshave accepted this alternate reading and have supplied the term godin their translations

in conclusion the larger context ofpsalm 24 works nicely withmy proposed understanding of verse 6 verses 1 2 make directreference to the creation of the earth then follow two synonymousclauses placed in an interrogative format that are directed to thetemple worshipperworshipper in essence the two questions ask who isworthy to visit the lords temple the individual found worthy toenter the temple ie he whose palms are innocent whose heart ispure who has not lifted his soul to falsehood and has not sworn whatis false v 4 will receive a blessing from god what does the blessingconsist of the blessing is implicit in verse 6 after being foundworthy to enter the temple a circle of worshippersworshippers participates inthe rites and ceremonies including prayer where the temple visitorinquires after the lord and seeks his face the blessing then is

that those individuals worthy to enter the temple will have theprivilege of appearing before god in his temple 21

NOTES

1 see for example sigmund mowinckel the psalms in israels worshipnashville tenn abingdon 19791771979 177 78 hans joachim kraus theology of the

psalms trans keity crim minneapolis minn augsburg 1986 73 78 walterbrueggemann the message of the psalms minneapolis minn augsburg 198442 erhardserhardS gerstenbergerGerstgerstenbergerjwmsenberger psalms part 1 grand rapids mich eerdmans 198711719117 19 klaus koch tempeleinlassliturgien und dekalogeDekaloge in studdenstudien zurtheologiatheologiebeologieThe7 ologie der alttestamentlichen uberlieferungenoberlieferungen festschriftFestschrift G vonraduonvon kadradkud edrolf rendtorff and klaus koch neukirchen neukirchenerNeukirchener verlag 1961 45 60leopold sabourin thetbepsalmspsalms theirybeir0riginorigin andmeaningand meaning newyorknewyork alba house

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1974 4079407 9 J W rogerson andandjandaJ W mckay psalms 1 50 cambridge cam-bridge university press 1977 1107111107 11

I1vowinckelowinckelmowinckelowinckel the psalms in israels worship 1773 kraus3kraus theologyTheologV of the psalms 744sabourinabouninbourin the psalms their origin andmeaningand meaning 408hansans joachim kraus psalms 1 59 A commentary trans hilton C oswald

minneapolis minn augsburg 1988 3166theathe6 the KJV translates the hebrew bar as hill it should be understood as

mountain which symbolizes the temple see Ps 151511 isa 237 the7theathe hebrew term capaiucapaim has reference to the palms KJVs incorrect

usage of hands does not adequately allow for the significance of palms in ancientisraelite temple ritual the hebrew word yad refers to the hand and fingersfiguratively it indicates power or work as in the hand of the lord the capaiucapaimhowever are the palms the cupped part of the hand used to depict innocence andto clap for joy these two words are interchangeable in the expression upraisedbandshands a gesture which accompanied prayers in the temple of solomon

thehe text ofbibliahebraicabebliabiblia hebraica stuttgartensiaStuttgart ensia reads my soul I1 emend the textaccording to the cairo geniza manuscripts and numerous variant textual readings tohis soul the third person singular bishisdis is consistent with the context of the psalm

9 lift up is literal hebrew the signification of this expression is not knownbut it may have to do with the fact that prayers in the temple were spoken withupraised arms clean hands are not lifted up in vanity or deceit they are lifted up inthe name of the lord Ps 634 and in prayerprayertoto him gen 1422 ezra 95 isa 111515raised toward the heavens 1 kgsggs 822 54 dacd&c 88132 135 or toward godstemple Ps 282 1 kgsggs 838 this manner of prayer with upraised arms was anessential feature of holy petitions put up to god in the temple of solomon lift upyour hands in the sanctuary and bless the lord Ps 1342 1 I1 will lift up my handto heaven and say I1 live forever beutdeut 3240

1011 compare the second half of this parallelism be lifted up which is a rarepassive commandformcommand form the authoris usingtheusing the same hebrewverbHebrewverb nasanasatwicetwice oncein an active verbal form and once as a passive verbal form

the expression this serves enclitically to demonstrate the physical near-ness of deity to the worshipperworshipper

for these attributes see isa 4028 31 and deutbeut 332713 the semitic alphabet had no symbols for vowels only for consonants

however to remove ambiguity from pronunciation and meaning a secondarysystem of vowel notation was developed for hebrew by about the tenth centuryCCEE keith schoville hebrew for bible readers starting with aleph biblereviewsreview7review7 june 1991161991iggi 16 christianChristichristlandchristlanDD ginsburg introduction to rhethe massoreticothemassoretic6

critical edition new york ktavkeav 1966 discusses the history and evolution ofthe hebrew vowel signs appp 4554555656 for a detailed discussion of two latecompeting biblical textual traditions one belonging to the babylonian jewscalled the eastern recension and the other belonging to the palestinian jewsknown as the western recension see ginsburg introduction 197 240 each

school oftextual critics held different approaches to adding vowels to the hebrewbible for other scholarly works regarding the vowelingwelingdowelingvo of the hebrew bible seeisrael yelvin the hebrew language tradition as reflected in the babylonianvocalization hebrew 2 vols jerusalem 1985 and EEJJ revell biblical textswith palestinian pointing and theirtbeiraccentsaccents missoula mont scholars press1977 7 34

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bruno chiesa the emergencetheemergence ofhebrewbiblicalpointingofhebrew biblicalpointing frankfurtAMA Mlanglang1979197981979 8

15 chiesa the emergence ofofhebrewhebrew biblical pointing 7interpretation begins not with thewritings separate from the oldoidoldtestamenttestament

it does not even begin with the pointing of a text it begins with the choosing ofconsonantsconsonantsinin semiticsemiticmanuscriptsmanuscripts jamesHHCcharlesworthharlesworth the Pseudepigraphpseudepigraphaaasasbiblical exegesis early jewish and Cbchristianristian exegesis studies in memory ofwilliam hugh brownlee ed craig A evans and william F stinespring atlantascholars press 1987 140 see also chiesa the7 be emergence of hebrew biblicalpointing 9 35

17 see for instance ludwig koehler and walter baumgartner lexicon infeterisveteris testamentilibros leiden brill 195320619531955 206 and francis brown S R driverand charles A briggs A hebrew andenglisband english lexicon of the old testament transedward robison oxford clarendon 1977 189

18 on other occasions in the psalms the word dor is translated as circle forgod is in the circle of the righteous Ps 145 1 I1 will make thy name to beremembered in all circles Ps 4517 and the circle of the upright Ps 1122such passages may refer to a social circle a wedding circle or a ceremonial circleon the prayer circle in antiquity see hugh nibley the early christian prayercircle BYUbyustudiesstudies 19 fall 1978 41 78 reprinted in mormonism and earlychristianity vol 4 ofthe collected works ofhugbof hugh nibley salt lake city deseretbook and FARMS 1987 459945 99

19igaA hebrew and englisbeenglishenglisb lexicon of the old testament 2052021ananalternate reading produced bytayt H gaster who puts veakevveakevforyaakovforyacorya akovahou

and thus produces this reading and the reward of those that seek him is his facecannot be supported see vetus testamentum 4 1954 73 79

21 several biblical verses connect the concept of seeing god withthewith the templefor the premosaicpre mosaic era for example seejacobsee jacob at bethel hebrew house of godgen 351551735177 additional references are found in the book of psalms see Ps 422

847 14013l4013cfnumcf num 1414 thou yahweh are seen face to face see also mosesat the sinai sanctuary ex 24911249 11 deutbeut 54 343410541010 cf ex 41 5 the israelites atsinai ex 1910111910 11 202420 24 moses at the tabernacle ex 3311 david at mountmoriah 2 chr 31 2 solomon at the temple in a prayer setting 1 kgsggs 91391 3 cf2 chr 16716 7 1 kgsggs 34534 5 and isaiah at the temple isa 61 5

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